I Wouldn't Change Anything
by AlphaHikari
Summary: A continuation of the I Took a Walk in the Dark series. He sat there on the sidewalk when she came along. She wasn't going to be his next profit, or someone he would remember after this, but he knew one thing for sure. Girls were weird and she would be no exception. Slightly mentions Marceline and features Ash. Please check out the author's note at the end.


The shell of a young man sat on the sidewalk waiting to spot a stranger that he could swindle into buying his drugs. He wasn't having much like this day. Everyone he spotted was either a little kid or a clean cut adult which he knew he would have no chance with. Plus he had to abandon his curb from earlier when he glimpsed the cops. There was no way he could stay there anymore. His luck was getting more and more like this lately. He figured that he'd either live long enough to starve to death, or go out in a drug overdosed induced bang.

He took another drag of the cigarette he was holding. The pack was almost empty. He would need to get some more soon. A gangly teen walked up to him and took a seat. He exhaled smoke and cut his eyes at her. _This kid looks new, _he thought. She didn't look anything like he did. Her clothes were clean, she smelled like she showered this morning, and her posture was perfect. So the question of why she was sitting by the street next to him remained unanswered in his mind.

The duo remained there quietly together as the afternoon turned to evening and then night. The young man had finished his cigarette long ago, but hadn't lit another one. The girl hadn't complained about the smoke or the scent of him the whole time either. She was in her own little world beside him, not being disturbed by anything around her. The man figured that since he wasn't going anywhere and she didn't seem to be either, he might as well try to make a profit off of the kid. "If you're looking for a little pick-me-up, I might have something that can help you," he offered.

"Even if you offered me stuff at the lowest price out there, I still wouldn't be able to buy it. Besides, I don't do drugs anyway," she replied.

"You're the second girl to turn me down without even having a look at what I got in less than a week."

She didn't say anything to that. The girl hadn't looked at him the whole time she's been there. The man took a good look at her to see just what kind of person he was dealing with. She had milk chocolate skin, deep brown eyes, curly raven hair that stuck out in all directions but still looked gorgeous, legs that seemed to go on forever covered by dark blue skinny jeans, a red tank top, and grey converse. Most importantly, she looked clean and well taken care of. "Why don't you go home then?"

"Where would I go back to?" She muttered to her knees. The girl had her knees drawn up to her chest as she stared at the street.

"Well, just go back to wherever you came from. By the looks of you, you have a place to stay. You aren't doing me any good being here if you're not going to buy anything."

She sighed but paid him no mind. It seemed that she wasn't planning on going anywhere. Then she turned her head and asked him, "How'd you end up out here like this?"

That came out of nowhere and caught him completely off guard. How'd the conversation go from getting her away from him to asking about his life story? _Man, girls are weird_, he thought. Now he had a choice to make, he could either tell her all about himself, or he could ditch the kid and try his luck elsewhere. Should he talk or should he walk?

_Oh who am I kidding? I'm not going anywhere unless I have to. Besides, I was here first anyway. Maybe if I give the girl what she wants then she'll get out of here, _he mentally said to himself. He had nothing to lose with her knowing anyway. "You know, at one point, I was just like you. Well, I was better since this is me we're talking about. But anyway, I had a family that loved me, a place that I could call home, and a life to wake up to optimistically."

"What changed everything then?"

"Shut up and I'll tell you. Like I was saying, life for me was great. I went all the way up to high school without a care in the world. My folks wouldn't bother me about where I went or my grades as long as I stayed out of trouble. They got me things I wanted too. Like games, pets, clothes, anything; all I had to do was ask.

Things stayed good until I started high school, but in the beginning, it wasn't that bad. I found this group of guys that I thought were cool so I tried to be like them. I had my folks buy me clothes like theirs, got a motorcycle, and even got this stupid haircut. Then for a few weeks, I played the loner in school. That got the attention of people and soon enough those guys came up to me and we started talking. I gave them all kinds of fake stories about me that they bought without a doubt. They were really some idiots now that I think about it.

After being in the group for a few weeks, we all started to randomly skip class together and just do some dumb stuff because we could. We owned the world and no one could tell us otherwise. You see that shop across the street?" he pointed.

She followed his finger to find a small green and white store. It looked old and outdated but it was still in business. Small things were sold there like candy, magazines, snacks, and the like.

"We would have robbed that. Not because we needed anything from it, but just because we could. It didn't matter to us. But that isn't even the worst thing we would do for fun. I'm not going to ruin your brain by going into anything else. You get the point. Anyway, my grades started to drop and my parents got annoying. Always asking me if something was wrong and stuff like that. All I had to do was promise them that I would bring my grades up and they left it alone.

Later on, probably sometime during my sophomore year or junior year, me and the boys decided that our usual fun wasn't enough for us anymore. That's when we found probably the best things known to man. I'm talking like meth, weed, stealing prescriptions, and junk like that. One hit and we were taken to our own worlds where we were free to do whatever we wanted with no consequences. I learned what living really meant back then. It wasn't about grades, school, or parents. It was about getting my one high a day with the boys. I didn't need anything more than that."

"What happened when your folks found out?"

"At first, nothing. They had a little talk to me about it, but if you ask me, there was more yelling going on than anything else. Then my mom made me promise to her that I would quit. I agreed just to shut her up, but I knew that I wasn't really going to do it. I felt too good when I was on the stuff to just give it up because she was fussy. Screw the consequences and all their rules. But my dad tried to play it a little smarter. He started keeping tabs on me all the time. I still went to hang with the boys but I had to be careful when we went out in public. I always felt like there was someone watching me. Everything was going good for three months after that. What can I say, other than, I messed up?

I got a little too happy off of the weed before coming home one night and things just spiraled down from there. I can't remember everything because I was high, you know, but I do remember being disowned and kicked out of the house by dad. Mom was somewhere crying her eyes out. So I did the only thing I could do and went to one of my buddy's place. He got his folks to let me stay there for a while and we just went about life as usual. I forgot all about my family because who needs them? I was doing just fine without them anyway."

"So if you ended up staying with a friend why are you out here now?"

"Things happened. One guy overdosed on his mom's prescriptions. Another guy wanted to be a drug dealer and got involved with the wrong people. He was shot by the way. The guy I was staying with got kicked out when he got his girlfriend pregnant. He pulled his life together after that and now he takes care of his kid and girl, I guess. We lost touch a while back. Can't have a druggie hanging around your brat and all. I think another guy went into rehab and got off the drugs. He should be doing pretty good right now."

"What about you? What do you plan to do?"

I'm going to do what I've always done since I've been out here. Stay out of the way, look for customers, and get high. This is the life I chose and I wouldn't have it any other way. Believe what you want, but not every person would go back in time and change the way things worked out for them. I happen to like the way I turned out."

"But you don't have anything—"

"Whatever you were about to say, forget about it. I have all the things I need. These clothes may be dirty but they cover me. I can all the water I need from any public fountain. Food is taken care of, all I have to do is go into stores like that over there and swipe what I want. I come across money every once in a while too. Any overhanging roof can become my shelter from the weather, and I can sleep just about anywhere I want. No bills, no one bothering me trying to tell me how I should live, and best off all, no rules. I'm free to do whatever."

The girl thought it over. The man seemed at peace with his life, even if it wasn't want anyone else in society would strive for. He accepted who he was and what he's done a long time ago. "You aren't that bad of a guy, you know."

"Yeah, well, keep that opinion to yourself."

"What's your name?"

"You can just call me Ash. I don't go by my real name anymore since, you know."

"I like you, Ash. You may not be the best of people, but you really aren't that bad."

The girl rose to her feet and stretched. Her stiff joints popped in gratitude of finally moving after being held in one position for hours on end. She took one last look at Ash before making her way down the sidewalk. He watched her go until she was no longer in sight. Then he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one of the few left. _Girls are really weird, _he thought. It was going to be a long night, but at least he had the sidewalk to himself again.

* * *

**Hi guys and girls! Thanks for reading my story and as always, leave a review with any thoughts or questions you may have had about it. **

**Now I need you guys to do me a really quick favor. It won't take much of your time, I promise. What I'm asking you to do right now is go to my profile and read my latest update. The date for it is set for today (7/28/14), and it'll explain some things. Now some of you may be asking, 'why didn't you just put the question here?" or "why should I even bother checking that out?" Well to answer the first one, the question didn't have anything to do with the story so I felt like it should be put elsewhere. There was no other place to put it except onto my profile. Now for the second question, I can't give you an answer as to why you should go check it out. It's really up to you. The only thing I can do is ask you to. I'm trying to do something for everyone but I only want to do it if you all approve of it. If it won't be anything you want, then I don't want to do it. **

**Lately, I've been trying to take my writing more seriously and I felt like that would be a good way to start. So please, go have a look at my latest update and give me some feedback. Thanks in advance!**


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